But one sees this pretty often -- the confusion between monthly declines and annual declines. And sometimes a 1% decline in a month might be reported as a "12% per year" decline -- but then the "per year" gets dropped, the statement "prices of X dropped 12% this month" is made, and those who aren't familiar with how people who care about the price of X report their numbers get confused.

Don't get me wrong -- a drop of 13% in a year is still a big deal. But a drop of 13% in a month would be a much bigger deal.